Chapter 6 - The Broken Child
I froze in the hallway, my hand gripping the edge of the heavy wooden door.
Julian Vance’s voice was trembling, entirely stripped of the arrogant entitlement I expected from Arthur’s nephew. He looked terrified.
Elena Hart shifted weakly in the hospital bed, her hand resting protectively over her pregnant stomach. She looked at the crude, exposed wires of my prototype.
“Julian, you shouldn’t be here,” Elena said softly. Her voice lacked the sharp edge it had in the principal’s office. “If Arthur finds out you brought this to me...”
“I don’t care!” Julian cried, stepping closer to the bed. “My dad is crazy, Dr. Hart. He’s going to demonstrate the tech tomorrow night at the gala. He’s going to use the prototype on Toby.”
My breath caught.
His dad?
Arthur Vance wasn’t Julian’s uncle. He was his father.
“Arthur is rushing the trials,” Elena said, her eyes widening in alarm. “Julian, the machine isn't calibrated. Without Marcus’s original cipher, the cellular filter will cause massive radiation burns. It will kill Toby.”
“I know!” Julian sobbed, wiping his face with the sleeve of his expensive prep school blazer. “That’s why I stole the physical machine from the school locker. I heard my dad’s engineers say the kid who built it—Leo—must have figured out the matrix. I thought if I brought it to you, you could fix it. You’re the only one who understands Marcus’s research.”
I stood in the doorway, my mind reeling.
Arthur Vance wasn't just a greedy corporate villain trying to steal technology for profit. He was a desperate father trying to cure his sick son, Toby. But in his arrogance, he was going to use an unfinished, unstable machine on his own child.
And Julian had stolen my machine to prevent his father from making a fatal mistake.
“I can’t fix it, Julian,” Elena said, her voice breaking. “I don't have the cipher. Marcus died before he could give it to me.”
“You have to do something!” Julian begged.
I couldn't hide anymore.
I pushed the door open and stepped into the hospital room.
Julian spun around, dropping the prototype onto the mattress. His eyes went wide when he recognized me.
Elena gasped, struggling to sit up. “Leo... how did you find me?”
“I tracked the machine,” I said, my voice remarkably steady. I walked over to the bed and picked up the prototype. It felt heavier now, burdened with the weight of someone’s life.
I looked at Julian. “Your brother is sick?”
Julian swallowed hard, nodding. “Severe pulmonary fibrosis. His lungs are failing. My dad thinks your machine will reverse the tissue damage. He’s going to plug Toby into the main company prototype tomorrow night at the gala to prove to the board that the tech works.”
“It will burn his lungs from the inside out,” I said bluntly. “The blueprints you stole didn't have the fail-safes.”
“Then give us the cipher, Leo!” Elena pleaded, clutching the bedrails. “If you know how to calibrate it, you have to tell me. We can stop Arthur.”
I looked at her, remembering my mother’s tears.
“Why should I trust you?” I demanded. “My mom said you locked the doors. She said you started the fire that killed my dad.”
Elena closed her eyes, a tear escaping and rolling down her cheek.
“I didn't lock the doors, Leo,” she whispered. “Arthur did.”
I stared at her.
“Arthur funded the project,” Elena continued, her voice trembling with a decade of suppressed grief. “When he found out Marcus was going to make the tech open-source so everyone could afford it, Arthur snapped. He confronted Marcus in the lab. I was there. Arthur’s men locked us in and set the fire to destroy Marcus’s open-source drives. Marcus shoved me through a ventilation grate. He saved my life. But the grate was too small for him.”
She looked at me, her dark eyes filled with absolute truth.
“I didn't kill your father, Leo. I have spent the last seven years building this foundation to try and steal the patents back from Arthur legally. To finish what Marcus started.”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the cracked silver watch. I opened the back and showed her the photograph with the red X over her face.
“Then why did my dad leave this?” I asked.
Elena stared at the photo. A bitter, sad smile touched her lips.
“He didn't draw that, Leo,” Elena said quietly. “Arthur did. Arthur planted that in Marcus’s belongings before returning them to your mother. He wanted to make sure your mother never trusted me. He wanted to keep us divided, so we could never team up against him.”
The pieces finally locked together.
My mother had been manipulated by her own grief. She had spent seven years hiding from the one person who could have helped us.
Suddenly, Julian’s phone buzzed violently in his pocket.
He pulled it out, looking at the screen. His face drained of all color.
“It’s my dad’s security team,” Julian whispered, terrified. “They know I’m here. They know I have the prototype.”
Before he could finish the sentence, the heavy hospital door swung shut, and the lock clicked from the outside.
Through the small glass window of the door, Arthur Vance’s face appeared. He smiled his cold, terrifying smile, holding up a master keycard.
He had locked us in.
“Arthur!” Elena screamed, banging on the glass.
May you like
Arthur’s voice came through the intercom speaker on the wall.
“Thank you for finding the prototype, Julian,” Arthur’s voice echoed in the room. “And thank you, Leo, for delivering it directly to me. My men are coming in to collect it. Don't make this difficult.”
